Iron and Steel Industry

Vegetable oil is an important item of Indian food as it is the major source of fat. Vegetable oil industry of India can be divided into three broad groups depending upon the technology used. Ghani is the main technology for expelling oil in the villages. Different oil seeds are used in different areas. For example, groundnut is used in Gujarat, coconut in Kerala and mustard seed in Uttar Pradesh.

Intermediate Technology is used by factories located in towns. Oil seeds used are region specific Sophisticated Technology is used by large mills located in big cities and are oriented towards bigger market. They also procure oil seeds from a much larger area.

Although vegetable oil industry is developed throughout India, Maharashtra has the largest number of vanaspati producing units. Other important vanaspati producing states are Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh. Chennai, Akola, Modinagar, Kanpur, Ghaziabad, Indore and Vadodara are the main centres of vegetable oil industry.

Metallurgical Industries

Industries using metal as the basic raw material are known as metallurgical industries. These include iron and steel, aluminium, copper smelting, lead and zinc smelting, alloy, ferro-manganese, ferro-silicon, ferro-chrome, tungsten and a host of other industries.

Iron and Steel Industry

This industry is known as the basic industry as all other industries depend on this industry. It constitutes the backbone of industrial development. e modern industry began in 1875 with the establishment of Bengal Iron Works Company at Kulti in West Bengal. But the real beginning of modern iron and steel industry was made in 1907 only when Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO) was set up at Jamshedpur (Sakchi at that time). The Indian Iron and Steel Company (II SCO) was set up in 1919 at Burnpur followed by the setting up of Mysore Steel Works at Bhadravati (now Visvesvarayya Iron and Steel Works) in 1923. Iron and steel industry witnessed rapid growth after independence. During the Second Five-Year Plan, three integrated steel projects were started at Bhilai, Rourkela and Durgapur. Bokaro steel plant was set up later on. Iron and steel plants have also been set up at Vishakhapatnam (the only steel plant located at the sea port and also using most sophisticated technology). Salem in Tamil Nadu, Vijaynagar in Karnataka, Paradeep and Kalinganagar in Odisha are other centres.

Location of Iron and Steel Industry

Iron and steel industry mainly depends upon weight losing heavy raw materials like coal, iron ore, manganese, dolomite etc. Therefore, this industry develops only in those areas where its raw materials (especially coal and iron ore) are available in shifting quality.

Cheap and efficient transport and ready market are other factors. Following table gives a brief summary of the major iron and steel plants in India.